Lucifer and the Creator have entered once again into an old familiar wager, but this time, the existence of creation itself is balanced on the outcome. Born in California during the twilight of a weary millennium, Joby Peterson dreams of blazing like a bonfire against the gathering darkness. Instead, he is subjected to a life of crippling self-doubt and relentless mediocrity inflicted by an enemy he did nothing to earn and cannot begin to comprehend.
Though imperilled themselves, the angels are forbidden to intervene. Left to struggle with their own loyalties and the question of obedience, they watch Lucifer work virtually unhindered to turn Joby's heart of gold into ash and stone while God sits by, seemingly unconcerned.
Grown to manhood, Joby's once luminous love of life seems altogether lost, and Lucifer's victory assured. What hope remains lies hidden in the beauty, warmth, and innocence of a forgotten seaside village whose inhabitants seem to defy the modern world's most inflexible assumptions, and in the hearts of Joby's long-lost youthful love and her emotionally wounded son. But the ravenous forces of destruction that follow Joby into this concealed paradise plan to use these same things to bring him and his world to ruin.
As the final struggle unfolds, one question occupies every mind in heaven and in hell. Which will prove stronger, compassion or rage?
